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ActRaiser
ActRaiser (アクトレイザー|Akutoreizā) is a 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System action and city-building simulation game developed by Quintet and published by Enix. It is notable for combining traditional side-scrolling platforming with urban planning god game sections. A sequel, ActRaiser 2, was released for the Super Nintendo in 1993. The sequel, however, dropped the city-building aspect completely. In 2007, ActRaiser became available on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console download service in Europe, North America and Japan. A version of the game was also released for European mobile phones in 2004. Gameplay During gameplay, the player fills the role of The Master, a powerful being awakened from a long sleep. When he awakens, he finds the civilizations of his former world in ruins. He is not referred to as a deity of any kind (it is stated in the manual that he is mortal), and this is the reason he hid from the demons he was fighting when he had enough power to seal himself away and wait them out. To begin rebuilding each civilization, The Master descends from his sky palace and inhabits the body of an ancient gray statue. The lifeless statue turns into a strong male warrior of human form wielding a sword. He uses his sword to fight through a side-scrolling level with various monsters and hazards. During each level the warrior can pick up power ups contained in strange statues which can have many effects which vary from refilling life to empowering his sword to fire projectiles. At the end of each stage the warrior must battle a more powerful boss monster. To help him the Master has a life bar which can be extended by gaining more followers. He may also gain access to magical spells which can generally kill normal monsters quickly or deal large amounts of damage to boss monsters. The defeat of the end-boss opens up a new section of the overhead-view world. The overhead-view simulation mode involves protecting and guiding the Master's new civilization towards prosperity. The first two humans in each population are sent to the Earth by the Master and enter the temple, an ancient structure which acts as the central hub of the civilization. This portion of the game play requires the player to take actions that encourage the growth of the population, such as instructing the people where to build roads, houses and farmland. The Master controls his servant, Angel, a cupid like creature with a halo, small wings, and a bow and arrow. Additionally the Master has access to miraculous powers such as the ability to summon lightning, rain, sunlight, wind or earthquakes. The Master uses these miracles to clear obstacles such as rocks and snow, kill monsters, or assist the people in various ways (such as summoning wind to power windmills). While the Master watches over the people they expand the civilization by building homes (which range from tents to large houses) and special buildings (such as farms or windmills). One obstacle in the simulation mode is the presence of flying monsters which attempt to impede the progression of a civilization. For example, Black Bats steal followers, Blue Dragons destroy homes, Red Demons dry crops, and Skull Heads create Earthquakes. Angel battles these monsters with bow and arrow, but takes damage upon contact with them. The source of the monsters are several lairs around the region which continuously spawn the creatures as the servant kills them. Losing all of his hit points does not kill Angel, but rather leaves him unable to use his bow, thus the monsters are free to attack the people. Since the main temple cannot be destroyed, and the master cannot die, it is impossible to lose during simulation mode. The population of the civilization never drops below two. Each time the population increases, the Master recovers some amount of life, allowing him to continue fighting the monsters even if it was previously reduced to zero. As the population expands, it can seal the lairs of monsters, which prevents them from spawning, and eventually eliminates all the flying monsters in the land. Doing so increases the civilization level of the region, allowing more advanced structures to be built and increasing the potential population. Once all the lairs have been sealed the population will begin to build the most advanced homes available to the people in that region. These homes house the highest population per building, and are unique in being the only homes resistant to earthquakes. Population growth increases the number of followers the player has, allowing him to progress in levels and increase in power. These level increases affect the Master's hit points in both the simulation and action portions of the game. The master also gains more SP, which he uses to perform miracles in simulation mode. Additionally, the people provide the player with offerings that give new magical powers or increase the player's attributes such as maximum health. It is common practice for an experienced player to use miracles such as earthquakes or lightning strikes to destroy the less advanced homes in a region so that they may be replaced by the higher population houses. This way the maximum population can be reached for a civilization, allowing the Master to reach the highest attainable level. At a certain point in the development of a civilization, a catastrophe of some kind threatens the people, such as the eruption of a dormant volcano spewing lava and rocks over the land. The player is then asked to deal with this catastrophe, which entails entering a second side-scrolling action level to fight through more monsters and defeat another end-boss. This pattern of "beat side-scrolling level, develop overhead world area, beat side-scrolling level" is repeated for the entire game. Players can revisit overhead world areas from earlier in the game to further develop the population in those areas, which can increase the player's powers and attributes even further. Sometimes the player may need to give technology or special items to a civilization that were originally offered by the people in another region. For example, one civilization may provide instructions on how to build bridges or grow wheat, which can be used to benefit other civilizations. Without these special gifts being shared by the people of various regions, most civilizations will not be able to reach their maximum population levels. After the Master has completed two action stages in each region he may enter the final level. This is another action level where the Master revisits several of the games boss battles before fighting the final boss. The Master's best option is to advance each civilization to its maximum population, and accept all offerings from each one before entering this final stage. Plot According to the instruction booklet, the world is maintained by a being known as "The Master." Tanzra, referred to as "The Evil One", is the eternal enemy of The Master and wishes to conquer the world. His six Guardians attacked The Master in a battle that lasted several days. After the battle, The Master retreated to his Sky Palace, which floats in the sky atop a cloud, to tend to his grave injuries. He erected a barricade and fell into a long and deep sleep. With The Master incapacitated, Tanzra divided the world into six lands, each ruled by one of his guardians. The Master awoke several hundred years later with his injuries completely healed, but his power had been removed as the people turned towards evil. He removed his barrier from the Sky Palace, determined to free the world from The Evil One. The game takes place on a fictional continent containing the six lands plus Death Heim. Fillmore is a plained area which is lightly forested. The acts are a forest, and a underground cave. Bloodpool has a large central lake surrounded by marshes. The acts are the lake, and a European styled castle on its shores. Kasandora a desert with mountains to the north. The acts are the dunes of the desert, and an Egyptian styled pyramid. Aitos a mountainous area with volcanoes present. The acts are a mountain scape, and the inside of a volcano. Marahna a chain of islands in the southeast corner of the continent. The acts are a swamp, and a southeast Asian styled temple. Northwall a land frozen in ice at the north of the continent. The acts are a snowfield, and a large tree. One more area the player must visit to complete the game is Death Heim which is a single mount surrounded by effigies of Tanzaras guardians. As the game progresses the Master recovers his power by rebuilding the civilizations of his people. During this time many citizens of the Master's civilizations speak to him through prayer. In this way the Master learns of special offerings that the people have for him, and hears the requests and troubles of his people. By fulfilling their requests (which always requires the Master to fight monsters at some point) the Master is able to allow each civilization to become as prosperous as possible. One of the Master's final favors to each population is to rid some location in the region of monsters by having the player complete one of the side scrolling action stages. The final boss in each of these six stages is one of the six guardians who serve Tanzra. After each guardian has been slain the region of Death Heim becomes available to enter for the Master. Death Heim is the final side action sequence the player completes. It contains no side scrolling levels, only a sequence of boss battles. The player fights in turn each of the six guardians and then finally battles the demon Tanzra (who has two forms). After this final battle the world is rid of Tanzra and his followers, and the Master's people can continue to build their civilizations in peace. The Master and his servant revisit the many civilizations that they had helped to build, and make observations of the people. They take time to remember special characters that helped play a role in leading or saving the people. When the Master and servant finish revisiting the final civilization, they look inside the shrine. No one is inside worshiping the Master anymore. The servant observes that although the people once prayed to the master in times of trouble, they no longer do. He suggests that as cultures become more advanced, they are no longer reliant on the Master for help, and that they feel happy and free now that they are independent. The Master and his servant then enter the sky palace and depart into the heavens. The conclusion of the story reflects the idea that people who are not suffering or in need of help can feel as though they are independent and do not need guidance from any 'higher power'. Development Religious subtext Some believe that the game is an allegory for Judeo-Christian monotheism. As the Japanese text for the prequel, ActRaiser 2, reveals, the protagonist's original name was God, and the antagonist is Satan. According to Douglas Crockford's Expurgation of Maniac Mansion, Nintendo of America had a strict policy regarding game content in the early 1990s, especially in regards to material which could be deemed offensive, a blanket category which prohibited the inclusion of any overtly religious themes or plotlines in a game. Hence, the main character of the game became "The Master", although the allegory remains obvious, as he travels the globe in a palace on a cloud, accompanied by an angel; slays demons; creates life; performs miracles; and is prayed to by the populace of the world. The second boss of one village in the game is a false god--in actuality a demon with the head of a cobra--to whom the villagers have been praying. The "Master" must invade the unholy temple and kill the false god to restore peace to the village. The allegory becomes much clearer in the final moments of the game, when the Angel and "Master" discover that the churches of the world have become empty, people having lost their concept of faith and need for a deity now that their lives have had all suffering removed. Saddened, but awaiting the day when he might be needed again, the master's sky palace swirls upward into the Heavens and vanishes. Version differences Besides the language and the subtext omissions discussed above, there were some drastic changes between the Japanese and other versions. A few graphical and musical changes were made (the original logo typeface being much more stylised, and without the intercap "R"), and the action sections are more difficult in the Japanese version. In the US/NTSC version, the Story Mode featured easier battles, while the action-only "Professional" mode (unlocked at finishing Story Mode) contains the Japanese difficulty level. In the PAL release, the Action Mode ("Professional" mode) is available from the menu screen right from the start, and some bosses have their attacks from the japanese version that were removed in the US version. Story Mode features three difficulties: Hard (Japanese), Normal (American), and an exclusive Easy mode. Ports A modified version of the game was made for the Nintendo Super System arcade platform. This arcade version featured only the action stages, similar to the "Professional!" mode in the retail version. Among other changes, the game had a different scoring system, and was much more difficult than the retail version: for example, contact with spikes is instantly fatal to the player, instead of merely causing loss of HP. Square Enix made a port of the original ActRaiser for mobile phones, published by Macrospace on September 1, 2004. It consists of the first three side-scrolling levels of the game, with the town-building portions completely omitted, and is generally seen as inferior to the original game. ActRaiser also became available on the Wii's Virtual Console. It was released in Japan on March 20, 2007, in Europe on April 13, 2007, and North America on May 28, 2007. As the game was published by Enix, Square Enix currently holds the rights to the Virtual Console edition. An unofficial Japanese-to-English translation has been released for the game which restores the Judeo-Christian references, among other changes. Music Among many things, the game is recognized for its score, which was composed by Yūzō Koshiro. A disc soundtrack for the game was released on January 25, 1991 in Japan. A shorter arranged soundtrack titled Symphonic Suite from Actraiser was released on September 21, 1991. A medley of music from the game, arranged by the original composer, was performed live at the second annual Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany during the year of 2004. Reception Upon its release, ActRaiser received positive reviews. It was particularly enjoyed by Electronic Gaming Monthly, who gave it a 9/10. Awards *Electronic Gaming Monthly's Best Music of 1993 *One of GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time - December 12, 2003 *150th on Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games List Sales The game sold about 620,000 copies worldwide. Of that number, 400,000 copies sold in Japan, 180,000 in North America, and 40,000 in Europe. Video ActRaiser (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete Category:1990 video games Category:1991 video games Category:1993 video games Category:2004 video games Category:Games Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Category:ActRaiser Category:Pages of the Month